Hungarian Grand Prix – Qualifying

Looks like it’ll be dry for qualifying, although the forecast for the race is still quite wet.

Tyre compounds: medium (prime; white band), soft (option; yellow band); hopefully we won’t see the intermediate or full wet tyres today.

Air temperature 30°C; 45°C; wind 1.1m/s; humidity 39%

My GridBids picks for this weekend: SV, MW, JB, LH, FM, NH & PRe.

LH was fastest in Free Practice 1 (1:22.021) and FP2 (1:21.995); MW fastest (1:21.550) in this morning’s FP3.

Qualifying 1
Lights turn green but no rush to leave the pits
RG first on track
RG too hot into Turn 1; missed the apex but stayed on track
Radio from RG saying the problem was brake balance; engineer says “two clicks forward”
RG 1:27.333
NH runs wide; all four wheels off track but at least it’s his out lap, not a timed one (which he could lose if he’s judged to gain an advantage by being off track)
KR 1:23.273
FM’s Ferrari squirming under braking; runs wide in Turn 1
KR 1:22.689
LH runs wide coming out of Turn 4
Radio from FM complaining about traffic – blocked by MS?
LH 1:22.371
10mins left of Q1; bottom 7 are SV, JV, TG, PRo, NK, CP, VP
Replay of FM passing MS – doesn’t look like MS blocked the Ferrari
Top 16 still on prime (medium compound) tyres; HK down all on options (soft)
LH 1:21.794 – new 107% time = 1:27.519, but everyone is inside that
Radio from JB saying he’s struggling with understeer – can’t turn in
5mins left; bottom 7 are PRe, HK, VP, TG, PRo, NK, CP
Many people switching to primes
3mins left of Q1
(PRe P2)
MS fighting with oversteer; gets up to P7
JB locks up in the penultimate corner
1min left; bottom 7 are HK, KK, VP, CP, TG, PRo, NK
Radio for SV: box, box (i.e. pit)
Chequered flag; lot of drivers still on a flying lap
KK P15, relegating DR to P18
Back of the grid: DR, HK, VP, CP, TG, PRo, NK.
Only LH, KR & RG didn’t use a set of soft tyres (options) in Q1

Qualifying 2
MS first out of the pits; he’s on options
MS misses the apex at Turn 4; realises it’s not going to be a good lap and aborts it, in order to conserve his tyres
MS 1:30.813
NR 1:30.686
FM 1:21.951
NH 1:21.906
There’s cloud over some of the track but it’s not really threatening to rain
JB 1:21.880
RG 1:21.854
KR 1:21.614
JB locking his front left
MW runs wide; rejoins
7:30 = halfway through Q2; bottom 7 are PRe, NR, KK, MS, LH, PM, JV* (*no time)
LH 1:21.060 – first to go faster than MW’s FP3 time
Radio for MW saying they need to run again because they’re not comfortable with their time (he’s currently P3)
3mins left; bottom 7 are BS, PRe, JV, NR, KK, MS, PM
(NR P8; SP to P11)
NR and SP on exactly the same time – 1:21.895
Chequered flag; bottom 7 are PRE, NR, SP, KK, JV, MS
PM to P3 = MW relegated to P11!
Middle of the grid: MW, PRe, SP, KK, JV, MS.

Qualifying 3
LH runs wide; aborts his first flying lap
LH 1:26.781
(JB P2) 1:32.429 – he must have had a problem too
KR 1:22.717
PM returns to the pits without setting a time
LH 1:21.260
(RG P2)
5mins = halfway through Q3; order is LH, RG, JB, KR; no-one else has set a time as yet
SV the first to start on the final set of flying laps
(SV P2)
BS locks up in Turn 1; runs wide
2mins left; order is LH, SV, RG, JB, KR
LH runs wide in Turn 1 too
(BS P6)
(PM P4)
(NH P7)
Chequered flag: LH, SV, RG, PM, JB, KR, NH, BS
(FA P4)
(FM P5)
(JB P3)
LH 1:20.953
(RG P2)
Front of the grid: LH, RG, SV, JB, KR, FA, FM, PM, BS, NH
The front-runners will all start on the option (soft) tyre

McLaren’s 150th pole position 🙂

Provisional grid: LH, RG, SV, JB, KR, FA, FM, PM, BS, NH, MW, PRe, SP, KK, JV, MS, DR, HK, VP, CP, TG, PRo, NK.

No penalties or outstanding investigations as far as I know.